Lecture 5: January 22

Question 1

hbl

Answer 1

underlain by sedimentary rock, should be rich in calcium. Low elevation, winds still have an effect. Discontinuous permafrost.

Question 2

Impervious deposits

Answer 2

creates lots of water

Question 3

Conditions for sphagnum moss

Answer 3

cold and wet are ideal

Question 4

Peatland habitats

Answer 4

bogs and fens are dominant

Question 5

Sedges

Answer 5

colonize and grow out into the water

Question 6

Sphagnum

Answer 6

modifies the environment making it acidic, nutrient poor and oxygen deprived. These conditions slow the rate of decomposition. sphagnum is like a sponge, and provies its own water. It has living cells with chloroplasts and chlorophylls, the dead cells act as sponges.

Question 7

Peatland Mosses

Answer 7

form the soil. Slowly the mats grow thicker and spread, choking the water. The lower portion of the moss mat dies and more sphagnum grows on top. When growth is greater than decomposition, peat forms

Question 8

Leatherleaf, Labrador Tea

Answer 8

Mycorrhizal relations: leaves are retained to conserve nutrients and prevent the leaves from drying out. Pitcher plants are carnivorous but also photosynthesize.

Question 9

Bladderwort

Answer 9

Common in hbl, as the mat gets thicker, shrubs grow on it

Question 10

Alders

Answer 10

Have help getting nitrogen, they have root nodules full of bacteria, transform the nitrogen into an organic form

Question 11

Sphagnum Lawn

Answer 11

Youngest edge of the mat, supports the greatest diversity of plants. Most carnivorous plants grow here, biodiversity is greater by the edge of the water.

Question 12

Climax condition in a peatland

Answer 12

Coniferous trees, black spruce. . If the water changes/rises, sphagnum moss will grow and start killing the trees with water. It takes over the forest.

Question 13

Paludification

Answer 13

peat initializing on previously drier and vegetated habitats over inorganic soils, with no fully acquatic phase.

Question 14

Hypsithermal

Answer 14

A great warming trend approx 7,000-5,000 years ago.Some people consider it a climax pattern, various habitat types that are dominant depending on the conditions.

Question 15

String bogs/ribbed fens

Answer 15

peatlands that have an od formation. They are perpendicular to the slope. Little barriers to the flowing water

Question 16

American toads

Answer 16

not freeze tolerant, this is how the discontinuous permafrost benefits toads.

Question 17

Freeze tolerant frogs

Answer 17

Most dominant group of herps

Question 18

Sandpipers

Answer 18

nest in the muskeg. Yellowlegs nest in the peatlands through the boreal forest too. Lesser yellowlegs are an indicator species for the hbl

Question 19

Stunted Spruce

Answer 19

provide a habitat for other birds

Question 20

northern Shrike

Answer 20

impales its prey on thorn branches. Northern shrike only nest in the HBL. In the summer they are found primarily in the hbl.

Question 21

Palm warblers

Answer 21

nest in peatlands. They also nest commonly in the boreal forest peatlands, not an indicator species for the hbl

Question 22

Alpine Bistort

Answer 22

a northern calic plant

Question 23

False asphodel

Answer 23

These are calcium lovers growing on the shoreline

Question 24

Butterwort

Answer 24

carnivorous plants, like calcium so it grows on the shores in the hbl.

Question 25

Orphids

Answer 25

Many are calciphiles